The present invention is directed to shipment tracking, and more particularly, but not exclusively, a query system for tracking the status of deliveries.
Present methods of tracking shipments and confirming delivery thereof suffer from ease of use problems and a lack of tools for easy administration and measurement of delivery performance. An available procedure for inquiring as to the status of a particular package requires entry of a package identifier, which in some cases may be as many as twenty alphanumeric characters. Shippers and recipients typically have identical access to tracking information.
Such an access system makes it difficult for organizations' mailroom personnel to manage and monitor the delivery status of their shipments, tens or hundreds of which may be en route at any given time.
Furthermore, such an access system makes it difficult for the intended recipients to monitor progress of their shipments. The package identifier for a given package is typically communicated by the sender to the recipient, who then uses that package identifier to query the delivery system for the status of that particular package. The sender may even employ customer service staff to perform tracking queries on behalf of recipients. For shippers and receivers engaged in an ongoing relationship, communicating a unique package identifier or performing queries for each package sent can impose a significant burden.
There is thus a need for further contributions to tracking system technology.